Sharing the Chocolate Chip Cookie of Knowledge
Tell me, and I forget.
Teach me, and I may remember.
Involve me, and I will learn.
-Benjamin Franklin
If you were to ask my mother what my favorite word was as a child, she, without question, tell you it was not one but two words and they were...BUT WHY?
I always needed to know why. Why is the sky blue? Why does it get dark at night? Why can't I go play in traffic?*...But Dad told me to.
Mom did her very best to answer all my " BUT WHY's?" and even though school was never my strong point, I continued to learn as best I could.
School...a dreaded word for many children, parents and even teachers. If you were to ask most of my teachers through school, they would likely tell you that I was a good kid, but I lacked drive and focus, which I did, without question.
I was messy, disorganized, easily distracted, at times overly emotional and severely allergic to homework. Looking at that collection of symptoms now seems like a no brainer; something wasn't quite right. In the early 90's the AD(H)D poster child was none other than the one and only Bart Simpson. AD(H)D was seen as something that typically was only recognized, diagnosed and treated in boys. Girls not exhibiting the same unruly symptoms often went without diagnosis and were more often than not seen as without drive, lazy, flaky and dangerously unorganized, struggling through school and life without treatment. I was diagnosed with ADD at 31, and I often wonder how different my school experience would have been if I would have undergone treatment during my years in school.
Oh, did I mention how much I struggled with the English language? Spelling was an extreme challenge, as was grammar, although, to a lesser (ish) extent. My struggle with spelling and grammar was addressed while I was still in school, although they were a little late to that party. They didn't send me for testing until midway through my final semester of grade 12. As it turns out, I, like my mother, and brother am dyslexic, among a few other handy learning disabilities. As Mom says, I couldn't spell shit with a mouth full, and it is still something a fight with daily.
To this day, I can't remember how to spell schedule (thanks spell check!), but I can remember the first time I learned fractions. I can remember who taught it, how it was taught, who I was sitting across from and who was sitting on either side of me. How do I remember this lesson in such detail? How is something that took place thirty years ago so fresh in my memory? Well, the answer is very simple...cookies! (Not to be confused with Cookie; she gets her own post at a later date) My grade primary teacher, Mrs. Adel Thompson, taught that first class on fractions, using Dare chocolate chip cookies (you know, the ones in the blue box). I sat between Maria Morrison and Marina Ritchie and across from David Sarty.
I think of this lesson so often, and it has served me well. Not that I use fractions in my line of work an obscene amount, but I do teach. I may not be an in-classroom teacher, but I have taught students from preschool to university levels, sometimes all in the same day. I have taught hundreds of thousands, maybe into the six-digit numbers, in my near twenty years as an outreach educator.
I have switched gears from reptiles and other exotic animals to livestock and domestic animals in the past year and a half. As much as I love teaching about reptiles, arachnids and other exotics and always will, there was something about livestock and farming that just seemed right, comfortable, and so very important. It's funny; really, I have been surrounded by livestock my entire life, never once did I look at it as something people would want and need to learn about.
I fell in love with sustainable farming, heritage livestock and its versatility and the growing importance of knowing where our food comes from, the work that goes into it and the damage that will come to our food supply chain if we are not careful.
Teaching the public the lessons my Grandfather, Grandmother, Mother, Father and many others taught me as a child became very important to me. How to cultivate, harvest, preserve and prepare the food we need to survive while respecting the animals and the environments we all live in and need to keep healthy for generations to come.
Hands-on education allows students, regardless of age, to learn from doing, getting in there and getting dirty. Hands on involvement in the learning process, engaging all their senses, allowing them to make mistakes, and seeing the outcome doesn't just aid in making learning fun and memorable but also gives students a sense of accomplishment and pride. All these things then lead to more self-confidence allowing students to share with others what they have learned, in turn spreading knowledge and a contagious desire to keep on learning.
Keep on asking why; you never know how it will change the outcome of your life.
In the fall of 1991, I learned fractions and shared half of a cheep, dry cookie with a girl who, to this day, is still one of my best friends.
Do you remember learning fractions?
Comments
Post a Comment